Nepal Gives Emergency Use Approval To Bharat Biotech's Covaxin

COVID-19 Vaccine: Covaxin, which demonstrated an interim vaccine efficacy of 81 per cent in the Phase 3 clinical trials India, was approved for emergency use in India in January and Zimbabwe cleared it early this month.

Nepal's national drug regulatory authority on Saturday granted emergency use approval to Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, becoming the third country to approve India's indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine. A meeting of the drug advisory committee of the Department of Drug Administration decided to issue a conditional emergency use authorisation to India's homegrown government-backed vaccine Covaxin, the third COVID-19 vaccine authorised in the country,The Kathmandu Post reported. Covaxin, which demonstrated an interim vaccine efficacy of 81 per cent in the Phase 3 clinical trials India, was approved for emergency use in India in January and Zimbabwe cleared it early this month. Bharat Biotech had applied for emergency use authorisation for its vaccine in Nepal on January 13. Of the three applications filed on January 13, the department had first granted emergency use authorisation to Oxford-AstraZeneca on January 15.